Another silver BMW - 2005 330i Touring

[JakeT]

Thank you, and you’re right! I don’t think chains are needed in Naples.

That would make it a very early one too. Mine was built on the 30th of August in Munich and was registered on the 23rd of September 2005.

I’ve driven it back to where it was built too, for a novel thing.

[Court_S]

Is the service indicator stopping working because of the mileage?

My friend ran his 125i (black top N52) to 256k when he sold it and his indicator reset etc.

[JakeT]

Yes. Here’s a doc from the US regarding the matter. There’s a job in ISTA to disable it.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/attachment.php?atta...

I’ve also read the doc from BMW UK on the matter as my good lady has access to all of the TSBs and the like. At some point soon I’ll get it disabled, but for now it’s fine.

[Court_S]

JakeT said:

Yes. Here’s a doc from the US regarding the matter. There’s a job in ISTA to disable it.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/attachment.php?atta...

I’ve also read the doc from BMW UK on the matter as my good lady has access to all of the TSBs and the like. At some point soon I’ll get it disabled, but for now it’s fine.

That’s something to look forward to at some point then!

[JakeT]

It’s easily fixed though, INPA does it, and some third party scanners will do it also. Honestly I won’t miss the oil change reminder, I am quite militant about doing it at fixed intervals.

[B'stard Child]

JakeT said:

We're off to Italy soon, and with a service about due, with it on 207k now.

Have fun - one of my most memorable drives was UK to Italy via the tunnels thro switzerland - the vignette stung but the tunnels were awesome

[7 5 7]

Taken my E91 318d 2012 a couple of times to Siena, Italy, was an epic trip, got to Chamonix, France on one tank of diesel, from Cheshire!! Easy nearly 900 miles - still have the car and has nearly 160,000 on it now.

We stopped over in Switzerland with family, then down into North Italy via the Mount blanc tunnel, there for a week touring Tuscany.

I just ran it there and back with budget winter tyres on, still have my swiss vignettes on my windscreen as a nice reminder to myself.

Would love to do it again, so I am very jealous - have fun OP!

[B'stard Child]

7 5 7 said:

I just ran it there and back with budget winter tyres on, still have my swiss vignettes on my windscreen as a nice reminder to myself.

That probably because the glue used on those vignettes is closer to aradite - I ended up replacing the windscreen because it was easier

[7 5 7]

B'stard Child said:

That probably because the glue used on those vignettes is closer to aradite - I ended up replacing the windscreen because it was easier

Yeah, noticed that, once there on...THERE ON! ha!

[B'stard Child]

7 5 7 said:

B'stard Child said:

That probably because the glue used on those vignettes is closer to aradite - I ended up replacing the windscreen because it was easier

Yeah, noticed that, once there on...THERE ON! ha!

Indeed - apparently to stop people transferring them but I think they went OTT with the adhesive

[JakeT]

Thank you both, we did Switzerland and Austria in 2022, and Sweden in 2023. Funnily enough, my vignette is still stuck on too!

I don’t think my 330i will do anywhere near 900 miles to a tank. With careful driving it will do 500, but not a huge amount more.

[Swervin_Mervin]

JakeT said:

Thank you both, we did Switzerland and Austria in 2022, and Sweden in 2023. Funnily enough, my vignette is still stuck on too!

I don’t think my 330i will do anywhere near 900 miles to a tank. With careful driving it will do 500, but not a huge amount more.

How long did it take you to get to Sweden Jake and where did you go? Went for the first time last year but flew. Loved it, and I'd love to drive it instead but my family are less willing

[JakeT]

We did it over a few days as a part of a wider trip, but our route took us on the overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook van Holland, which is very recommended. Cuts a lot of driving, and you can have a bed for the night.

From there it’s easy to cross The Netherlands, and have a stop in northern Germany (Hamburg is nice). Then it’s head north, a bit of Island hopping and enter Sweden through the Oresund bridge.

Our route was a little different it was a part of a larger trip. We had a couple of nights in Amsterdam, then Hamburg. Then we went further north in Denmark to Aarhus, as my brother used to live there and it was nice to revisit. Following that we crossed Denmark, and into Sweden. We visited Gothenburg and Malmö and bits on the southern peninsula before departing back to Copenhagen, and onwards on the trip.

I’d very much recommend this, as it’s not hard driving, and you could be in Sweden 2 nights after leaving home with a couple of easy days travel.

[JakeT]

Well, we came back from Italy on Sunday. Car was fine, albeit has a mild rattle from somewhere (maybe heat shield) so I’ll need to sort that.

We had an overnight in Reims. After an excellent steak tartare and champagne, having had a good snooze we opted to swing by the old Reims-Gueux circuit. Done it a few times now and it’s always cool.



Saw some cool Panda 4x4s in Italy, this green one standing out…




Did some some skiing, saw some great sights, and went as high as we could by Gondola.



And the results on arriving home. Half a litre of oil used, which is about par for the course for this now.



210k miles and still rolling on. For how much longer, I don’t know. We have a house move coming up and I’d like to save the pennies, so hopefully it gives another year of good motoring.

Looking forward to a summer trip now. We’re either thinking of Portugal, or Croatia. We’ll have to see what’s what…

[Court_S]

Looks like a good trip.

If it’s not a rust bucket, I’m sure it’ll go on for a while yet. My mates old 125i was still going strong at 250-odd K.

[Mr Tidy]

JakeT said:

And the results on arriving home. Half a litre of oil used, which is about par for the course for this now.

210k miles and still rolling on. For how much longer, I don’t know. We have a house move coming up and I’d like to save the pennies, so hopefully it gives another year of good motoring.

That sounds like a great trip - these cars are so relaxed on a long trip.

My 2005 330i (E90) uses oil at that sort of rate too - it seems to be par for the course.

Good to know my 124K miler probably has many years more left in it!

[JakeT]

Court_S said:

Looks like a good trip.

If it’s not a rust bucket, I’m sure it’ll go on for a while yet. My mates old 125i was still going strong at 250-odd K.

That’s the issue, it’s getting there. Rear subframe is getting badly, and the floors around it like the mounts and the rear floor pans are looking ripe. Rust will be what finishes this off. Honestly, it’s 19 in August and hasn’t faired badly compared to the E46 of similar age I owned before it. On that one the nearside front subframe mount pulled through the boot floor.

Mr Tidy said:

That sounds like a great trip - these cars are so relaxed on a long trip.

My 2005 330i (E90) uses oil at that sort of rate too - it seems to be par for the course.

Good to know my 124K miler probably has many years more left in it!

Having been all over in it, I agree. Rust will see most of these cars off, same as past 3 series also.

Edited by JakeT on Friday 15th March 10:39

[Swervin_Mervin]

When I had mine in for pulleys on Wed the chap was telling me that they see a few of these still, and they just seem to keep going. Said another customer had a 325 (not sure if i or d) and that he'd just had his in for a refurbed rear subframe to be fitted as the other had got to being an MOT failure. Think he said the chap paid £500 for a refurbed one from somewhere that came with new bushes fitted. Apparently the guy uses it every day up and down the motorway and it's on north of 250k and has no plans to change it.

I had a look on howmanyleft recently and the numbers that were still taxed was incredible - something like 230 out of 280 originally registered (330i that is)

If you could get on top of any body rust then it should keep trucking for a long time yet.

I'd like to get my sill covers off this year and have a see what's going on. Hopefully won't regret looking

[Court_S]

JakeT said:

Court_S said:

Looks like a good trip.

If it’s not a rust bucket, I’m sure it’ll go on for a while yet. My mates old 125i was still going strong at 250-odd K.

That’s the issue, it’s getting there. Rear subframe is getting badly, and the floors around it like the mounts and the rear floor pans are looking ripe. Rust will be what finishes this off. Honestly, it’s 19 in August and hasn’t faired badly compared to the E46 of similar age I owned before it. On that one the nearside front subframe mount pulled through the boot floor.

quote=Mr Tidy]

That sounds like a great trip - these cars are so relaxed on a long trip.

My 2005 330i (E90) uses oil at that sort of rate too - it seems to be par for the course.

Good to know my 124K miler probably has many years more left in it!

Having been all over in it, I agree. Rust will see most of these cars off, same as past 3 series also.

Mine had a subframe fitted by the previous owner because it was so crusty (he decided it was easier to just replace than try and refurb the old one).

I found some surface rust under the arch liners which I treated, unfortunately there is also a slight hole in the drivers side rear arch that needs attending to this year. It didn’t look too bad when it was in the ramps for its last MOT.

[Court_S]

Swervin_Mervin said:

When I had mine in for pulleys on Wed the chap was telling me that they see a few of these still, and they just seem to keep going. Said another customer had a 325 (not sure if i or d) and that he'd just had his in for a refurbed rear subframe to be fitted as the other had got to being an MOT failure. Think he said the chap paid £500 for a refurbed one from somewhere that came with new bushes fitted. Apparently the guy uses it every day up and down the motorway and it's on north of 250k and has no plans to change it.

I had a look on howmanyleft recently and the numbers that were still taxed was incredible - something like 230 out of 280 originally registered (330i that is)

If you could get on top of any body rust then it should keep trucking for a long time yet.

I'd like to get my sill covers off this year and have a see what's going on. Hopefully won't regret looking

They’ll succumb at some point I’m sure but there’re much more resistant to rust than an E46.

I found some surface rust under the rear arch liners and made this when I was wire brushing any flaking rust off and poking it with a screwdriver…



I’ll sort this at some point this summer. All other obvious signs were treated with a rust converter and painted with POR-15. I still need to drop the sills to make sure they’re OK.